Stock futures Point to Mixed Start after Apple’s Lackluster Results

U.S. stock futures are pointing towards a weak start on Thursday with NASDAQ 100 futures showing investors’ jitteriness towards tech stocks after Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) late on Wednesday reported lower than expected revenue for the first quarter and gave a weak revenue outlook on the current quarter.

At last check, futures on Dow Jones Industrial Average Index inched up 0.04%; those on NSADAQ 100 plunged 1.26% while futures on S&P 500 Index edged down 0.24%.

Shares of Apple slumped nearly 10% in premarket trading after the tech giant’s fiscal fourth-quarter revenue fell short of analysts’ estimate while the company also shipped lower than expected number of iPhones in the holiday season quarter, underpinning the fact that the company’s supremacy in consumer electronic goods industry was slipping away as market gets more and more competitive.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) shares will under spotlight on Thursday. Shares skyrocketed nearly 42% in premarket hours on Thursday after the movie-streaming company , after closing bell on Wednesday, surprised Wall Street analysts by reporting profit in the fiscal fourth quarter.

On U.S. economic data front, the Labor Department’s weekly jobless claims is due at 8:30 a.m. EST. Later at 10:00 a.m. EST, the Conference Board releases its leading economic indicators index for December.

In China, HSBC’s preliminary purchasing manger index (PMI) showed that manufacturing activities rose at fastest pace since last two years in January.

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.